Bottas, 28, replaced the retired Nico Rosberg at Mercedes, signing a one-year deal, and currently sits third in the driver standings with two wins from 13 races, with teammate Lewis Hamilton leading the way.

Bottas said: “As a driver, I’ve been able to learn and grow massively, and we have already enjoyed some really good moments this season that I will never forget. I’ve been very impressed by the mentality, commitment and the team spirit this team holds. Partnering Lewis has also been really good, and I’m enjoying the respect we have and the will to push this team forward together.

“I’m happy to have celebrated my first race wins in a Silver Arrow. However, there’s always room for improvement and I still have not shown my full potential. I will continue to work hard on and off the track, to further improve my driving, get even better results and show that putting their trust in me was the right decision.”

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel crossed the line in second position after failing to move past Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, while Daniel Ricciardo finished third as the Red Bull driver strengthened his grip on fourth place with his sixth podium of the season.

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas made up the top five on an afternoon that brought Hamilton the 58th win of his now 200-race career.

Fernando Alonso failed to reach the chequered flag for the eighth time this season, while Max Verstappen was forced to retire after losing engine power.

The battle between Hamilton and Vettel will resume in the Italian Grand Prix next weekend.

Championship leader Sebastian Vettel was on course for a top-three finish, but the German suffered a puncture with two laps to go, and a seventh-place finish means that he will take only a slender one-point advantage into the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Kimi Raikkonen was second entering the latter stages of the race, but the Ferrari driver also suffered a puncture in lap 47, and dropped to third as Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas took the runners-up spot.

Hamilton, who has now won the British Grand Prix for a fourth time in succession, finished just over 14 seconds clear of Bottas as the 32-year-old led from the front on home soil.

Fernando Alonso, Carlos Sainz and Jolyon Palmer were all forced to retire at Silverstone.

Bottas fought off stiff competition from Vettel to lead from start to finish at the Red Bull Ring, claiming just the second Grand Prix triumph of his career.

There was also a battle going on between third and fourth, where Daniel Ricciardo was able to hold off Lewis Hamilton to complete the podium as the Brit lost more ground on Vettel in the Drivers’ Championship.

Vettel now leads Hamilton – who began the race in eighth – at the top of the championship by 20 points, while his Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen crossed the line in fifth.

Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso crashed out in a dramatic first lap which also saw Vettel accuse Bottas of a jump start, although the Finn was later cleared by stewards.

Sebastian Vettel accused Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of ‘brake testing’ him, which damaged the German’s front wing and sent him into a rage.

“If you were to do that on a public road you would get arrested,” 1996 world champion Damon Hill is quoted as saying by The Times .

He is referring to the way the Ferrari driver pulled alongside Hamilton and apparently deliberately turned into him, earning him a penalty and bringing him close to the end of his super licence penalty points.

Afterwards, a furious Hamilton said that the next time Vettel wants to take him on, it should be “face to face”.

“Lewis will hit him one day,” agreed Mercedes team chairman Niki Lauda . “Not with the car but with the fist.”

When grilled by the media about the incident, Vettel simply would not refer to it.

“I went next to him to lift my hand. I wanted to make it clear that this was not right,” he said. When asked if it was deliberate, Vettel asked the reporter: “That I lifted my hand?”

Despite repeated attempts by reporters to refer to the clash, Vettel would not even admit that there was contact, instead insisting again and again that Hamilton had brake-tested him.

However, Hamilton said that Vettel’s actions set a “precedent” for impressionable young racers coming through the ranks, and others agree that the FIA may still act.

A red flag with little more than three minutes of Q3 remaining interrupted the session with Valtteri Bottas topping the timesheets ahead of his colleague.

The drivers soon re-emerged in a desperate bid to improve on their laps in the time that remained and, moments after Bottas had crossed the line to take the chequered flag that signalled the end of the session, Lewis Hamilton appeared in his wing mirrors to complete a stunning quick lap that earned him a 66th pole, moving beyond Ayrton Senna and within two of record-holder Michael Schumacher on the all-time list.

An added bonus for Hamilton will be that Ferrari struggled to match the pace of the two Silver Arrows and championship leader Sebastian Vettel had to settle for fourth, behind team-mate Kimi Raikkonen.

Max Verstappen failed to reproduce the kind of performance that saw him top both practice sessions on Friday and the Red Bull man will start fifth.

Daniel Ricciardo was responsible for the red flag after losing the back end of his Red Bull on the exit of turn six and qualifies 10th, while the Force Indias of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon went quicker than Williams duo Lance Stroll and Felipe Massa.

For Stroll, it is the first time he has outqualified team-mate Massa.

Both McLarens were eliminated in Q1 but will start from the back of the grid due to engine penalties, while Jolyon Palmer is likely to start from the pit lane after an engine fire in FP3 scuppered his hopes of taking part in qualifying.

Lewis Hamilton led from start to finish at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, capitalising on numerous troubles for championship rival Vettel to close the gap to 12 points after seven races.

Sebastian Vettel lined up in second on the grid, but after just five laps he found himself down in 18th after being forced to stop twice due to car damage.

The Ferrari man battled back to eventually cross the line in fourth having soared up the leaderboard, but neither he nor anyone else could get close to Hamilton as he dominated in Canada.

Valtteri Bottas ensured a Mercedes one-two, but he finished almost 20 seconds behind his teammate.

Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo made up the podium in third, with Vettel missing out on the top three for the first time this year and teammate Kimi Raikkonen only managing seventh place.

There were more car woes for McLaren too as Fernando Alonso was forced to retire having seemingly run out of fuel when 10th in the race – a position which would have been good enough for them to earn their first point of the season.

The three-time world champion, whose first ever victory came in Canada too, moves just one behind Michael Schumacher for most wins on this leg of the Formula 1 circuit.